Arctic Cooling Duo: Alpine 7 & Freezer 7 Pro Attack Value
by Wesley Fink on January 29, 2008 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
The Arctic Coolers
Both the Alpine 7 and the Freezer 7 Pro use a frameless 92mm fan, but the output and bearing design differ by model. The frameless fan is a design feature that distinguishes Arctic Cooling designs.
The fan mount is also a trademark feature. AC coolers use elastomeric mounts to isolate the fan and reduce noise levels. This is true even on the $12 entry-level Alpine 7 (with PWM) cooler. The frameless fan with elastomeric mounts is a similar design on both coolers, but there little else is the same. The Alpine 7 is a one-piece aluminum block; it uses a traditional down-facing fan, much like the Intel retail cooler and other entry-level coolers.
The Alpine 7 consists of several models. Our test unit is the Alpine 7 (with PWM), which is basically an Alpine 64 with a custom cage for mounting on Socket 775. This model will mount on any current AMD or Intel socket. Other models are the Alpine 64 Pro for Intel 775 only and the Alpine 64/Alpine 64 (with PWM) for AMD only. All these variations use a heatsink that is basically the same and a down-facing fan with the same fan specifications. Performance should be the same across these coolers. Arctic Cooling also has a smaller cooler with a smaller 80mm fan where small size is important, the Alpine 7 GT.
The midrange Freezer 7 Pro is a side-mounted heatpipe tower. Three vertical heatpipes are looped through a heavy base and support horizontal aluminum cooling fins. Airflow exhausts toward the rear fans in the case. All the top performing coolers tested in recent months at AnandTech use a heatpipe tower design.
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yacoub - Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - link
It's a shame it took this long for you guys to review the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro, which is a staple of the cheap-but-effective heatsink setups for overclockers. Glad to see it performed rather well. =)Archon29 - Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - link
I just built a new PC with 2 front intake fans, one rear exhaust fan, and the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro. My E4500 hits 40c at idle, 59c at load, and 63c with a 600 Mhz overclock. Not sure if my CPU reports the temp high (I've heard of this), I got a dud with the Freezer 7, or I applied my thermal paste wrong, but it sucks seeing other people get these kinds of results. I'm almost tempted to see what I would get with the stock fan but that would be a lot of trouble.orenlevy - Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - link
is closed by dust.the alpine 7 resist and keep working long after many other stop dissapating heat.
i will be glad that when you benching somthing you will chek it for the long run. as im living in israel (dusty) i have lot of experience. oren
swaaye - Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - link
I had a Freezer 64 Pro on an Opteron Dual Core about 2 years ago. It was pretty good and cheap, but the fan gets loud when it's at full speed. When I got my Core 2 Duo, I switched to Scythe Ninja Plus because it cools a lot better while being basically silent and only a bit more expensive.I'm all about effective + quiet these days and I wouldn't go back to that Freezer unless it was a CPU that didn't need much cooling power.
9nails - Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - link
I've had a Freezer-7 on a Core 2 Duo 3.0 Ghz E6850. I bought it based on good feedback at NewEgg in November. I wanted a cooler that was quiet, better at cooling than stock, and one that could extend the life of my CPU. I'm glad to say that the Freezer-7 has met all my expectations. It's been rock solid and something which I could easily recommend.limo wreck - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
What did you use to control the speed of the fan during the tests? Asus' QFan? Speedfan?Would you know what the speed was during idle and under load? The reason I ask is because I have an AC Freezer 7 Pro and although it is somewhat quiet, I definitely wouldn't call it "near silent" like you did in the article.
gorobei - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
while the fan may not be equivalent to the AC, the design is roughly the same. Given the new testbed and temp monitor, the hyperTX2 should be worth a second look.poohbear - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
gotta give credit to arctic cooling. Their vga coolers are top notch: reasonably priced (compared to the $50 option from Thermalright and zalman) and virtually silent. seems they replicated this for their cpu coolers. hope to see more products from these guys in the future.Etern205 - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
Is there by any chance in a future article that you guys do a test to see how well are the new Intel stock coolers?And excellent review.
Etern205 - Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - link
I mean the stock cooler for the Extreme edition cpus.Like this one